Chapter 3
“You heard me correctly. Four—no, make that five pregnancy testing kits. I want them within the hour…” Noah gripped the phone through his PA’s confused stuttering.
“And Maddie? Thank you. I’ll make sure you’re paid an extra month’s salary for doing this…
No, it’s more than you should have to do for me, especially on a Saturday.
” He would’ve gotten the kits himself, except he had no intention of leaving Ashley alone in his condo, and he liked the thought of going to the drug store with her in tow even less.
He hung up and turned toward the sliding doors. His breath punched through his lungs. Realizing his whole body shook with the effort it took just to face the doors, he cursed under his breath. He had to go in there. Had to face the fact that Leia had walked away.
Had to face the fact that if Ashley wasn’t totally delusional, he was about to become a father. Through no choice of his own. Bewildering anger flashed through him. He battled through it to think rationally.
He’d think about Leia later. Or maybe not. Maybe he’d pretend the whole goddamn thing had been a fever dream. Yeah, right. A dream was the reason his insides were eviscerated and why his feet refused to move.
But he had to move. His ex-fiancée was spinning dreams he had to nuke before they got even crazier. He took a step and heard his front door slam. The finality of it shook him to the core.
Leia was gone.
God.
He forced himself to walk back into the living room.
Ashley rose with a fluid grace he’d once thought sexy as hell.
Now he could see clearly that it was all a studied performance with more polish than allure.
For a brief moment, Noah wondered whether it was that allure that had swayed Snyder into staging this morning’s confrontation with Ashley.
But no, Snyder was just as fixated with Leia as Noah had allowed himself to be.
And now she was gone…
“Noah, darling, I really am sorry I had to break it to you this way,” Ashley said.
“No, you’re not.” He threw his phone on the nearest sofa and circumvented her approach by stalking to the kitchen.
Seeing the remnants of the breakfast he’d planned for Leia made his insides congeal.
“You had an audience lapping up your performance. An audience you engineered so I couldn’t throw you out on your ass.
That’s exactly how you wanted it. If you want me to entertain any hope of hearing you out, let’s cut the bullshit and get to the heart of the matter. ”
He grabbed the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. Shame it was too early for something stronger. He gulped the first mouthful, winced at the scalding heat, and turned. Ashley lingered near the bar, her wary eyes on him .
“This is your last chance, Ashley. My PA is on her way with a pregnancy kit; several, in fact.” He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
With a grim smile, he slammed it on the counter.
“Drink up. You’ll be doing a hell of a lot of peeing in the next hour.
Unless you’re going to come clean and tell me this has been a huge misunderstanding? ”
He couldn’t stop his gaze from dropping to her stomach. The thought that his child could be growing in there was too much to wrap his head around. Again, that earth-shaking bewilderment threatened to engulf him.
With a look of challenge in her eyes, she took the bottle. She wrenched the top open but didn’t drink.
“I know that’s what you want to hear, but I wouldn’t lie to you. Not about this.”
“So we’re agreed that you do lie more than frequently?”
Her mouth pursed in annoyance. “Our situation has forced you to dump your little bit on the side, so you’re feeling a little annoyed. But I am carrying your child, Noah. Treat me with some respect.”
His fingers tightened around his coffee cup. “ Our situation? How much choice did you give me in this, Ashley? Oh, and by the way, don’t think I’m not calling my lawyers within the hour to bring charges against you.”
A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “You’re not a monster, Noah. You won’t send the mother of your child to jail, no matter what your lawyers recommend.”
He froze. “You really had this all planned out, didn’t you?” Noah was surprised at how even his voice sounded considering he wanted to roar his anger to the heavens. “The first and last time I mentioned children back when we were together, you didn’t even want them. So why this? Why now? ”
“I told you. I want you back. And I know you want children eventually.”
His gaze strayed to the NYPD file opened on the table.
“I haven’t changed, Ashley. I’m still the guy who slapped your tits, tied your hands behind your back and forced you on your knees so I could fuck your mouth for as long as I wanted.
I’m still the guy who made you pay for snapping his control by tying you to the bed and making you come for eight hours straight.
Have you forgotten how I spanked your conniving little ass till you were black and blue?
How I left bite marks all over your body?
You called the cops on me and had me arrested for assault for that, remember?
Remember how much you hated being bound, that you couldn’t call the shots, that you couldn’t dictate when I could let my nasty little traits come out and play?
Is that the sort of father you want for your child? ”
She paled a little, then shrugged. “So I thought there was a time and place for… that sort of behavior. So what?”
“So I can’t turn it on and off at will! It’s part of who I am. It’s woven into my fucking DNA! How can you not see that?”
“Is that what your little Leia likes?” Her voice came as close to a sneer as he’d ever heard it.
“I’m hanging on by a thread here, Ashley, so do yourself a favor and don’t speak her name.” His warning was whisper soft.
She flicked her hair, glanced off to the side then back at him. “Fine. You say you haven’t changed. Well, I have. I can accommodate whatever proclivities you insist on indulging in, once our baby is born, of course. After that, between us I’m sure we can work something?—”
He slammed his coffee cup down so hard it split in two.
“Jesus. There is no fucking us or we! There never will be. Get that through your thick skull right now, or so help me God…” He stopped and took a breath, his fists clenching so hard his kn uckles cracked.
“And the only place you’ll be after this child is born is in jail, so think carefully how you want to spend your last months as a free woman. ”
Her audacious laugh set his teeth on edge. “I won’t be going to jail. Trust me on that.”
Her tone reeked with too much confidence for him to put it down to bravado. His eyes narrowed. Before he could ask the question burning on his tongue, his buzzer beeped.
He frowned. Maddie must have dropped everything to get the pregnancy kits.
Even still, that was super quick.
His stomach lurched at the thought of what could change his life in the next half hour.
He answered the concierge and listened with growing incredulity.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Hell no, do not send them up. You can throw them out onto the streets for all I care.” Replacing the handset, he turned, a stunned laugh escaping his throat.
“You really should’ve been born a man, Ashley.
You certainly have the balls to carry it off. ”
While he’d been speaking to the concierge, she’d fetched herself a glass and was now sipping the water. “What are you talking about?”
“You had your suitcases messengered over here?”
She smiled. “Oh, that. Yes, I thought I could stay here while we sort things out between us. You know how much I hate hotel rooms. The air conditioning messes up my sinuses. And the morning sickness has been a killer. Besides, you have more than enough room here.” She looked around, and he could almost see her mentally redecorating.
“Sorry, sweetheart, you won’t be staying here.
If you want to rescue your stuff, you need to hustle yourself downstairs because they’re about to be thrown out onto the street.
And don’t bother trying to talk Miguel into letting you bring them up.
He has instructions not to allow the cases anywhere in this building. ”
Her hand fluttered up to her throat. “I have nowhere to go, Noah.”
His jaw clenched. “You should’ve thought of that before trying to manipulate your way back into my life. And what do you mean you have nowhere to go? If I remember correctly, the lease on the New York apartment isn’t up for another three years.”
“I’ve given up my apartment in New York and my job at the art gallery. I gave up everything to be with you. Are you really going to toss me out onto the street?” She pouted.
“You’re hardly destitute. My lighter bank account after your damages claim two years ago bears witness to that fact.”
“The money’s all gone. Implanting the embryos took a few tries.” She gave a little laugh. “I made myself broke trying to have your baby. The least you can do is help me keep a roof over my head.”
Noah whirled away and stalked to the French windows.
He closed his eyes. He couldn’t stand to look at her for another second.
Had he really thought he loved this woman once upon a time?
Had he asked her to marry him, contemplated spending the rest of his life with her?
God, how fucking desperate had he been to have fallen into her poisonous web?
He’d been thinking with his dick and not his head. Fresh out of a series of relationships that had started out great, but then tailed off into vanilla dullness because inevitably each of the women had tried to change him, he’d been ripe for the plucking.
He’d resigned himself to his Catch, Fuck, Release program by the time he’d met Ashley. When she hadn’t flinched from his attempts to drive her away by testing her boundaries, he’d thought he’d died and gone to heaven.